


too young for much more, too old for any less

by tornfromroyalty



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Trans Character, Trans Characters, aka tsukki just wanted a quiet job, librarian au that nobody asked for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 07:11:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2959148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tornfromroyalty/pseuds/tornfromroyalty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yamaguchi lives with three children, none of them their offspring. Tsukishima lives with one child and two grown men who are just as much children as the other, and again, none of them are his.<br/>And as much as both would like to deny it, their lives are nothing spectacular, that is, until they meet one late night, on the curb of a street outside of a long since closed library.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Their Morning

“Tadashi.”

Yamaguchi groaned into their pillow, turning onto their belly and pressing their face deeper into the plaid pillowcase, trying to ignore the bright sunlight that shone into the room.

“Tadashi, it’s morning.”

Groaning again, Yamaguchi threw their arms over their head, sighing in the darkness that flooded their vision.

Suddenly, a weight pushed down on their back, pushing their breath out and causing them to cough.

“Tadashi, it’s almost seven.”

Yamaguchi sighed. “Miyuki, isn’t it Saturday yet?”

“No, it’s Friday,” Miyuki said bluntly, shifting so that she sat on their lower back, beginning to pull at the hair on the back of their head, twisting it in her fingers to make a tiny, effectively pointless braid.

“Alright, fine, I’ll get up,” they mumbled, lifting themselves up by their elbows and turning over so that Satomi slid onto the blanket beside them.

“Tobio made eggs, and Shouyou tried to make bacon but it’s burned,” Miyuki sighed, frowning.

Yamaguchi laughed quietly, sitting up and swinging their feet over the edge of the little bed. “That’s alright, burnt bacon is just crunchier bacon.”

Miyuki gave a small smile and muttered, “I still ate it, but Shouyou was trying to tell me not to tell you because then he couldn’t have any more bacon.” She rubbed at her left arm, fingers scratching over the end of her elbow, running her thumb over the scar absentmindedly.

“You betrayed the mighty Shouyou? You must be one brave little girl, Miyuki!” Yamaguchi joked, standing up, “But I won’t tell him, as long as _you_ put your school clothes on while I get ready. You can’t go to school in your pajamas, silly.” They tousled her hair before walking to grab their work clothes.

“Okay!” Miyuki smiled, hopping down from the bed and smoothing out her green nightgown, tugging gently to pull her sleeve back up as it fell over her left elbow.

Yamaguchi watched her scurry out of the room, bare feet patting against the cold, hard floor. A small smile tugged on their lips, his heart swelling as they heard the small echo of her little voice in the kitchen, probably telling the two five-star chefs in there to hurry up and get ready.

They grabbed their bath towel and a clean pair of scrubs, hurrying into the tiny bathroom and shedding their pajamas. The shower was a tiny stall with a dingy, slightly torn curtain instead of a door. The old porcelain base was chipped and cracked, one thick crack running from one corner to the other, barely sealed by a mix of spackle, concrete, and glue that Yamaguchi had thrown together when the landlord said that he wouldn’t fix it.

The shower screamed on, cold water pouring out of the old showerhead. Plumbing was another issue for the bathroom, unfortunately. Unless the sink was on, the shower wouldn’t provide hot water. And to pay for that much extra water was not anywhere in Yamaguchi’s budget for the month.

Although they did their best to make sure that Miyuki always had hot, or at least warm, baths, as every child deserved.

Especially when her skin split along the scars from four years ago, never quite healed as proper medical care was unavailable to them, and as she had a tendency to scratch at them when she had nightmares.

Pushing the bad thoughts out of their head, as Miyuki seemed to be in a good mood today, Yamaguchi stepped under the cold water, hissing slightly at the shock, and hurried to scrub at every inch of their skin, clearing away any dirt from the previous day’s work.

Stepping out of the freezing shower was one of the better parts of each morning, as the warmer air of the apartment rushed over their freezing skin. Yamaguchi dried themselves off quickly, leaving their hair a damp, dark brown mess. Miyuki would probably tell them to brush their hair, because they chided her every day for not doing the same to hers, but their hair wasn’t easily controlled, especially when they barely had a minute each morning to deal with it.

Yamaguchi threw on their scrubs, a purple and blue pattern today, and sighed, already feeling exhausted.

“Tadashi, it’s time to go!” Miyuki yelled from the kitchen.

“Almost ready!” Yamaguchi replied, grabbing their phone, keys and wallet from the bedside table. They grabbed their old coat from the closet and picked Miyuki’s up from the floor, knowing that she had forgotten it in her excitement to get ready.

Walking into the kitchen, Yamaguchi said a brief greeting to Hinata and Kageyama, who sat on the floor, bickering as they ate their breakfast.

“Good morning, Yamaguchi!” Hinata chirruped, grinning and nudging for his cohort to greet their gracious caretaker.

“Morning, Yamaguchi,” Kageyama mumbled, obviously not very awake at this hour of the morning.

“You two need to be getting to school, alright?” Yamaguchi said as they knelt down to put Miyuki’s coat on.

Hinata pouted, but nodded all the same. “Yeah, okay,” he groaned, after being prompted by Kageyama’s poke to his side.

Yamaguchi chuckled to themselves, pulling the blue zipper up as Miyuki fussed with her sleeve, trying to get the smaller zipper over the end of the sleeve to close, a task that seemed impossible with one hand.

“And I need you two to be home by about seven. My first class is at eight, and I’ll bring Miyuki home a little before that, okay?” Yamaguchi asked, tugging their shoes on.

“Sure thing, Yamaguchi!” Hinata said, jumping up, “Miyuki, tonight we’re gonna build a pillow fort on the couch and play games and-”

“Shut up, dumba- stupid,” Kageyama hissed, catching himself as he remembered the presence of a certain innocent little girl, “They have to get going.”

Hinata apologized quickly, bowing his head.

Yamaguchi smiled softly, opening the front door. “Have a nice day. And lunch is made for you, just don’t forget to grab it on your way out.”

“Thank you, Yamaguchi!” the two boys said quickly as Yamaguchi pulled the door shut.

Miyuki pulled on the strap of her backpack, adjusting it over her right shoulder. The one-strapped backpack had been an extremely lucky find in the clearance bin of a corner store, especially since it was small enough for a little girl.

Miyuki had insisted that she could use a regular backpack, but the wider double straps tended to stress her left arm more than it should have just to keep the left strap on. It kept sliding off, and with nothing to hold the strap in place, Miyuki had dropped her backpack more often than she probably told them.

Toddling down the steps, Miyuki hummed a soft tune to herself, content in her early morning peace. It was rare to have such a nice morning, and Yamaguchi treasured it more than most people would have.

“Miyuki, do you have any projects to do over the weekend?” Yamaguchi asked as they walked out of the apartment building and into the frigid morning air.

Miyuki pursed her lips, thinking. “I have a science project to write about. It’s on photosynesis!” she grinned.

Yamaguchi laughed, not bothering to correct her. She loved science, and if they tried to be too perfect about it, she would get disheartened. They had been the same way at her age, but their parents had been less careful about tiptoeing around their feelings.

In fact, the reason they had taken so long to get into college was because they were terrified of messing something up in their studies. But they had gotten into the nearest college’s medical program after months and months of hard work, and now was barely a year away from getting their doctorate.

Yamaguchi rubbed Miyuki’s back as they hurried across a street, waving to the driver who had allowed them to cross. They were only two or three blocks from Miyuki’s school now, and Miyuki started slowing down a little, to their surprise.

“Are you okay, Miyuki?” Yamaguchi asked quietly, smoothing down a stray lock of hair as they walked.

Nodding, Miyuki muttered, “Yeah. Tadashi, did you have to do science projects in school?”

Yamaguchi smiled. “Of course! I loved science!” they said, trying to cheer her back up.

“Can you help me find some stuff about photothesis? I just don’t want to do a bad project,” Miyuki mumbled, picking at her collar.

“Sure, Miyuki. I can take you to the library tomorrow if you want. There are a ton of books there that can help!” they said, gently holding her shoulder to guide her across another street.

“Yeah, and then can we get ice cream? I promise I’ll work really hard at the library,” Miyuki pleaded, her tiny face brightening up.

Yamaguchi laughed. “Fine, but only because I know that you’re going to do the _best_ science project ever, okay?”

Miyuki nodded, stopping as they reached the school to give them a quick hug. “See you later, Tadashi!”

Yamaguchi waved and waited until she was inside the school doors to turn and walk back down the street towards their work. A smile stayed on their face, as they thought about how excited their sister got about ice cream.

Checking the time on their phone, Yamaguchi picked up their pace, cutting across the street and rushing to get to work on time. They were rarely late, but often they only barely managed to get there on time, and Daichi would be upset to open the clinic without everyone present.

When they spotted the building at the corner of the street, Yamaguchi ran to cross the street and ducked into the alley behind the building, heading for the back door.

They pulled the door open just a minute early, sighing as they checked in their time and went to drop off their things in the employee locker room. As they pulled the door open, they were met with a very loud greeting.

“Morning, Yamaguchi!” Nishinoya grinned, stepping away from his locker to nudge his boyfriend’s shoulder.

Asahi smiled gently at Yamaguchi, nodding a mumbled ‘good morning’ to them.

“Good morning, Asahi, Noya.”

“How is Miyuki today?” Asahi asked, shutting his locker and adjusting his scrubs.

Yamaguchi laughed to themself. “She’s much better, especially after I promised her ice cream.”

“Aww, you never get us ice cream, c’mon, Yamaguchi,” Nishinoya whined.

“Yuu, I don’t think they have to buy _us_ ice cream. We’re not their family-“

“Of course we are, Asahi! Right, Yamaguchi, we’re your family!” Nishinoya laughed, causing Asahi to sigh, a small smile creeping onto his lips.

“Of course, Noya. But I’m still not getting you ice cream,” Yamaguchi said, hanging their coat up and pulling their shirt down to fit better.

Nishinoya gasped, and opened his mouth to begin complaining again when Daichi came in, a serious look on his face.

“Morning, Daichi!” Nishinoya smiled.

Daichi grunted in response, walking to grab a mug from the cupboard.

“Long night, Pops?” Noya joked.

Daichi glared at him, his brown eyes barely darker than the circles under them. He poured coffee into the mug and took a sip without any sweetener.

Obviously a long night, then.

“The baby woke up four times. In an hour. And then proceeded to do that for the rest of the night. _Four times_ ,” Daichi mumbled, shaking his head.

“Aww, poor Suga,” Nishinoya frowned.

“Is Misaki sick?” Asahi asked worriedly.

Daichi shook his head. “No, she’s just at that age, apparently. I’m glad we are waiting to adopt another, because waking up twice as much every night would kill me,” he sighed, “And Suga had to go in early today, but you know how they are with Misaki. I don’t think they slept more than an hour.”

“We could watch Misaki for you sometimes! We love little babies, right Asahi?”

Asahi knit his eyebrows. “Yeah, but babies are sometimes scared of me-”

“Misaki is almost one now-”

“She’s two months old,” Daichi muttered.

“Okay, so like almost _almost_ one. She doesn’t care about scary stuff. And you’re _not_ scary, you’re a big dork, Asahi,” Nishinoya said, waving his hands as he spoke, “But you’re _my_ big dork, so it’s okay.”

Daichi sighed. “It’s too early for that, Noya. I don’t need you two to be suspiciously _missing_ for an hour today. I have back-to-back appointments until one.”

Nishinoya laughed, while Asahi hid his face in his hands, groaning quietly.

“But seriously, Daichi, we’d love to watch little Misaki. Suga and you can sleep, or maybe you can take them out on a nice date, or you know, you’d have the house all to yourselves for a whole night, the things that you could do,” Nishinoya winked.

Yamaguchi snickered, trying (and failing) to hide their smile behind their hand, and clammed up as Daichi glared their way, but continued to hiccup little giggles as Nishinoya waggled his eyebrows at Daichi.

“Noya, get out there, we’re open in five. Asahi, Yamaguchi, come with me please,” Daichi shook his head, setting his empty mug in the sink.

At Daichi’s order, Nishinoya pecked Asahi on the cheek before skipping out of the room. He hummed as he went, not nearly as quiet as he should have been, but Daichi only continued shaking his head.

“Alright, I have one appointment this morning with twins. It’ll be longer, and I need Asahi there the entire time, so Yamaguchi, you’re on your own for meeting the other appointments until I’m done. Just do the usual run-through, and if any walk-ins come, you know what to do. Noya can probably help with those, too,” Daichi said, leading them to the operation room, “Asahi, can you grab a new box of gloves from the stock room?”

Asahi nodded, walking off as the other two entered the room, Daichi sitting down at the desk and starting the computer.

“So it shouldn’t be too bad, especially once Kiyoko gets here, but just in case, you know that Aone and Kamasaki are going to be here today for volunteering, and they will make sure nothing goes too badly. If you need them, Noya should have given them the pagers that work with yours. Just stay calm, alright?” Daichi said calmly, smiling softly in an attempt to ease the younger’s nerves.

“Yeah, okay, I’m good. I think I’ll be able to handle it. It’s just a couple of people, right?” Yamaguchi said, smiling nervously.

Daichi nodded. “And those two should handle any protestors, too, okay? I know that last Friday wasn’t the best day, especially for your first day in this position, but it’s going to be alright.”

Yamaguchi nodded, taking a deep breath.

“How about you go and check with Noya to make sure that everything’s in order?” Daichi asked as Asahi walked in, placing the box on top of the desk.

With a short bow of their head, Yamaguchi left, scurrying to the front desk. Glancing at the clock on the wall, the doors would open in just a minute, which meant that anyone, patients and protestors alike, could get into the clinic.

And here they were, Nishinoya spinning in his chair while he programmed one of the pagers, and Yamaguchi wringing their hands in fear of who could come walking in.

Aone stood in front of the desk, his usual scowl slightly softening as he took in Yamaguchi’s obvious anxiety.

“It’s okay,” he said bluntly, his voice deep and frankly, unnerving, but the sentiment behind it slightly calmed Yamaguchi’s nerves. They couldn’t think of anyone who would mess with someone like Aone.

Kamasaki walked out from the locker room, straightening his uniform and clearing his throat. His mouth was pulled down into a deep frown, his eyes dark with exhaustion like nearly every other employee.

Yamaguchi felt even better seeing both of them there, looking like two giant, terrifying bears that would claw someone’s eyes out, although Yamaguchi knew that both of the volunteers were actually just big fluffy _teddy bears_ after Yamaguchi had brought Miyuki with them to pick up their interviewing forms and had found Aone sitting in front of her, letting her braid his short hair while she discussed the complicated politics of elementary school Show and Tell with Kamasaki.

Miyuki had begged them to bring her back to see them after she had found sparkly butterfly clips to put in their hair, and while Yamaguchi was sure they’d go with it, their jobs as volunteer bodyguards may be slightly diminished if they wore hair pins that looked like a Lisa Frank nightmare.

Yamaguchi jumped slightly when a woman came in, the doors unlocking automatically at exactly eight o’clock.

She asked for a pamphlet about their services, specifically referring to them as ‘alternatives’ to avoid saying the word that was so ironically forbidden in the clinic.

Yamaguchi noticed the slight bump on her abdomen, and hoped that the protestors had not tormented her too much as she walked in.

The strictly conservative people who stood outside their doors rarely came in, choosing instead to antagonize people who entered and left the building, calling them murderers and sinners, all the while shouting at the employees in some sort of effort to change their minds about what they were doing.

The woman sat down in the lobby area, rifling through the pamphlet nervously, her hands shaking slightly. She pulled her dirty blonde hair back, pushing her bangs away from dark blue eyes and taking a deep breath.

Yamaguchi walked to the side desk, where patients could discuss their options, and sat down, figuring that the woman might come over and need assistance.

Another woman came in, spoke to Nishinoya for a moment before Aone led her back, presumably to the operating room.

The calm look on her face seemed to have an effect on the woman still in the waiting room. She steeled her nerves and walked to Yamaguchi, holding the pamphlet tightly in her grip.

“I’d like to be scheduled for an abortion,” she said firmly, looking down at him with determination.

“Okay, just fill these forms out, and then please discuss further action with our secretary,” Yamaguchi said, smiling.

“Um, can I just ask you a few questions about it first?” the woman said, taking the forms and sitting down in the chair in front of their desk.

“Sure, although he’d probably have better answers, I’m afraid,” Yamaguchi nodded, “But I’ll try my best, er-”

“Please just call me Haruka. And you are Yamaguchi?” Haruka said kindly, pointing at the little tag on their shirt.

“Oh, yeah, that’s my name,” Yamaguchi mumbled.

Haruka nodded, then looked at something in the pamphlet she had taken. “So this operation, will anyone else have to know? Will you contact my family?”

“Not without your consent. We recommend having someone to bring you here and take you home on the day of the appointment, but if not, we can make sure that you are properly transported to a safe place afterwards,” Yamaguchi said, grabbing a paper from their desk drawer, “Here’s the taxi service that we use, and we have people here to keep you out of harm before, during, and after the process as well. The two over there are here for exactly that purpose.”

Haruka looked at Aone and Kamasaki, who were currently engrossed in some story Noya was telling them, his arms waving about and a grin stretched across his face.

“So someone like them could take me home after?”

“Sure, if you want. It’s a small extra fee, but your insurance, if you want to use insurance, should cover it.”

Haruka nodded, then, lowering her voice, asked, “Is there any possibility of… harm? To me, I mean, with the abortion?”

“There are always risks, but you can speak to either doctor here and they can tell you anything you want to know about the actual medical process. I’m afraid I’m not much help when it comes down to the actual medical part, or not yet, at least,” Yamaguchi rambled.

“Yet?” Haruka questioned, tilting her head and raising an eyebrow.

Yamaguchi felt their face heat up and he stammered, “Oh, yeah, um, I’m in school to be a, um, doctor right now. So I know a little about the operation, I mean, I know what it _does_ and, er, I know medical stuff.”

“Medical stuff?” Haruka coughed, smiling slightly, crinkles forming next to her eyes.

“Yeah, stuff,” they mumbled, thoroughly embarrassed.

“Well, thank you, Yamaguchi. Good luck with your medical stuff. Can I schedule an appointment to meet with a doctor with you?” Haruka grinned, standing up from her seat.

“You’ll have to talk to Nishinoya at the main desk. Have a nice day,” Yamaguchi said, bowing their head.

Haruka walked over to Nishinoya, who stopped his animated storytelling and faced her, a brilliant smile still on his face.

Yamaguchi wished that they could be as high-spirited as Noya was, at least when they were at work. Noya always seemed to shine brightly, even at the little birthday party Yamaguchi had thrown for Miyuki a year ago, when he spent the entire time carrying Miyuki on his back and assuring her that the two of them would save ‘Princess Asahi’ from the dragon.

Daichi had definitely not liked the dragon costume (though Suga had found the thing absolutely adorable), and had absolutely despised being tackled by two overzealous _children_ because of it.

But Yamaguchi’s face was always kind of sad and tired, and their eyes were rarely bright with any happy emotion at work, and the few times that they had tried to be like Noya had exhausted them so quickly that they had stopped it permanently.

Some people are meant to be rays of sunlight. Yamaguchi was not one of these people.

“Thank you again, Yamaguchi,” Haruka smiled, walking out of the lobby.

Yamaguchi waved, sitting up to grin as best as best as they could, and watched as she opened the doors, the roar of protestors increasing as she left.

Luckily, Aone and Kamasaki were at her side, faces cold and stony, looking straight ahead.

Yamaguchi sighed, slumping back down in their chair.

“Yamaguchi, did that lady seem familiar to you?” Noya shouted, leaning back in his chair and craning his neck to look at them.

Furrowing their brow, Yamaguchi frowned. “No, why?”

“Hm, I just thought I recognized her name. I’m sure it’s just a common name, though. Whatever. I think it’s one of Saeko’s friends’ names. She has so many friends, you know, and I swear she brought a different one home every weekend when Ryuu and I were in high school. I stayed over for a week one time, and I saw things, Yamaguchi. Weird things,” Nishinoya chattered, shuffling the papers on his desk into a pile and stapling them, “Can you run these to Daichi’s office? Please?”

Yamaguchi nodded, walking to him and taking the papers, noticing the name on the paper.

Truly, they didn’t know a single Haruka other than her.

And they definitely didn't know any Tsukishimas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited to write this you do not understand how much I've been wanting to write a Haikyuu!! fic.  
> Cliffhanger will probably not be resolved for a while though.
> 
> EDIT: Yamaguchi is genderfluid, and at this time uses the pronouns they/their/them/themself. Their pronouns will change (being genderfluid). If anyone has any questions or comments on this, I am always open to talk about it and I welcome constructive criticism about this. I am not a voice for the entire transgender community and therefore my views will never be completely correct on these types of topics, but I always, always want to get better about it, so please, if you have any ideas, corrections, anything, do not hesitate to comment or message me. My tumblr is always open (yahmahguchi) as well!
> 
> EDIT: I have been told that genderfluidity isn't transgender, which I completely understand, so thank you for telling me (I have no idea where your comment went though?) I personally know people who refer to themselves as transgender and are genderfluid. But I know that a few people are not representative of an entire group, so I will be strictly referring to Yamaguchi as genderfluid as Suga as agender. Thank you so much for your comment!


	2. His Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukishima Kei finds his life to be fairly decent, despite the growing number of people residing in his house.

****

“Kei! Kei! It’s time for school!”

Tsukishima hissed as the lights flicked on in his room, throwing his elbow over his face.

“Come _on_ , Kei, I can’t be late!”

Tsukishima frowned, lifting his arm to look over at the loud child at the foot of his bed.

How he was related to a _morning person_ , he had no idea.

“What time is it, Satomi?” Tsukishima sighed.

“It’s almost six!” she chirruped, a million-watt smile appearing on her face. Her golden eyes glowed with such happiness that did not seem possible at this time of day for anyone except a child.

Tsukishima sighed again. Why he was woken up every morning before six, when Satomi’s school started at _eight_ , he didn’t know.

But Satomi still woke him up every morning, and he never bothered to do anything about it, in fear that he’d upset Satomi.

A crying Satomi was much, much worse than a six AM wake up call.

“Are the others awake?” Tsukishima mumbled, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

“Kuroo’s on the couch with Kenma. I don’t think Bokuto came home last night. Is he hurt? Is he missing?” Satomi gasped, grabbing the wood of the bed.

Tsukishima shook his head. He’d _never_ be that lucky.

“He’s probably still at Akaashi’s house. They had a sleepover last night,” Tsukishima grumbled, making something up to please the little girl.

“I wanna sleepover at Akaashi’s house! Why does Bokuto get to?” Satomi frowned, her face much too sad for the seven years she’d been alive.

And to be this distraught over not spending time with the grumpy man, Satomi truly hadn’t spent enough time around Akaashi.

“Ask Bokuto after school, okay? How about you go and get dressed for school?”

“Yessir!” Satomi yipped, grinning as she skipped out of the room.

Tsukishima grabbed his phone, noticing that he had several messages from a certain M.I.A. roommate of his.

‘at akaashis. tell kuroo not to eat all of my ice cream’

‘kuroo texted me a pic of my empty ice cream tub. wtf bro’

‘bro are you sleeping’

Tsukishima rolled his eyes. What person _wouldn’t_ be sleeping at 3 in the morning on a weeknight?

Bokuto. Bokuto and his grouchy boyfriend who probably never gets any sleep based on how tired he looks at work.

Spending as much time with Bokuto would do that to someone, though. He had a tendency to exhaust the people around him after too long.

Tsukishima stood and walked into his bathroom, grabbing his towel on the way. If he was up, he might as well get moving before Satomi came in again and started trying to drag him around the room to get ready.

Of course, with her being just over half his height, it wouldn’t work very well, but he’d let her try. That’s what good uncles do, after all.

Flicking the shower on, Tsukki threw off his pajamas, tossing them into the hamper in the corner, where a rather unpleasant smell was beginning to gather, as no one in the house really wanted to do laundry.

And it didn’t help that Kuroo and Bokuto’s laundry just always _happened_ to end up in his hamper _somehow_.

Stepping into the shower, he turned the heat down, letting icy cold water wake him up. He never liked warm showers, and only took hot showers after a long day at the library or after spending too much time with the assholes he lived with.

He scrubbed at his short, blond hair, blunt fingernails scraping at the curls in an effort to tame them. As it happened every day, Tsukishima knew that if he didn’t comb his hair in the shower, brush it dry, and then do extensive styling, it’d poof up and curl as soon as he left the house.

Tsukishima sighed, noticing that his hair was being especially unruly today, and gave up, washing his body quickly before turning the water off.

Stepping out of the shower, he could hear the echoes of Kuroo’s tired drawl from the kitchen, probably whining about eating too much ice cream (because only he would eat half of a tub of ice cream just to annoy his best friend).

Tsukishima dried off and grabbed a pair of jeans and a hoodie from his closet, searching through the dresser drawers for a clean binder. After pulling his underwear on, he threw the blue sweatshirt over his head and wiggled into his jeans. He tousled his hair one last time with the towel and threw it onto the hook in the doorway.

Walking out of his room, he noticed the lump on the couch, a blond head poking out from under a massive pile of blankets.

“Morning, Kenma,” he muttered, wondering how late they had gotten home. Not that this was Kenma’s home, no, Kuroo just dragged the poor kid everywhere, including back to the house.

Kenma grunted in response, a small noise muffled by the heap on top of him, and Tsukishima snorted.

Kenma flailed his arms out from under the blankets, pulling himself out from under them to look up at Tsukishima.

“Good morning,” he mumbled, brushing his hair out of his face.

Tsukishima stopped walking and asked, “When did you two get home?”

“Around two.”

“Did you wake Satomi?”

“No.”

Nodding, Tsukishima looked at the mess on top of the coffee table. A stack of empty junk food wrappers, a pile of video game cases, accompanied by two controllers and what looked like every remote that could possibly work with their TV, covered the surface, some of the wrappers having fallen onto the floor.

Also on the pile was what looked like Kuroo’s shirt, socks, and shorts, as well as Kenma’s sweatshirt and binder.

“So you guys didn’t even plan to clean this all up and go into his room?” Tsukishima sighed, thinking of how he’d probably have to clean it all up later.

“Tsukki, why would we wanna do that? We were having a gaming marathon. Plus this nerd doesn’t like my bed,” Kuroo huffed, walking in with his arms full of food. He wore nothing but neon green boxers that hung low on his hips and could be considered inappropriate for the company of a little girl if Satomi was not the most oblivious child on the planet when it came to nudity.

The number of times Bokuto had stumbled out of his room with rather interesting choices in underwear had made Tsukishima immune, and Satomi had only told him to put more clothes on because ‘Papa says you’ll get a cold and die from ammonia’.

So she wasn’t a doctor at age seven, but she had the kind of tolerance that one would require.

“It’s not your bed, it’s the stuff you have _around_ your bed,” Kenma mumbled, sitting up and pulling the blankets to his chin, “It’s gross.”

Tsukishima knew that Kenma was asexual from the moment he insisted that Kuroo at least _put away_ his more intimate belongings because he really didn’t like to be around them.

Granted, the array of differently colored and oddly shaped things Kuroo had in his closet could make almost anyone a little queasy.

But Kuroo _had_ dealt with them, although the various posters on his wall were still unsettling to his poor boyfriend. In a few days, he’d taken them down and replaced them with some of Kenma’s videogame posters. It’s not like Kenma’s belongings weren’t already strewn about the house as badly as Kuroo’s before that. Tsukishima had done the boy’s laundry when Kuroo had tossed it in with everyone else’s, but hadn’t even noticed until he saw the little boxers with paw prints on them (a gift that Kuroo had asked Tsukishima about too many times to count, the number of ‘but what if Kenma’ and ‘but what about these’ Tsukishima had heard would forever burn into his memory).

Besides the dramatic difference in size, Tsukishima and Kenma’s laundries were almost identical, a mess of hoodies, jeans, and binders. Kenma’s had notably more clothes with cat designs, while Tsukishima’s tended to be plain, monochrome outfits.

“None of that’s for you, it’s all mine, and I got rid of a lot of it, don’t worry,” Kuroo sighed, tossing his boyfriend a granola bar, “We’ve talked about this, dork. I forgot to clean it up this morning, and I’m sorry. I’ll get rid of those, too.”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes at the two, knowing that they were about to get very cuddly and fluffy, and while he could put up with quite a bit in the morning, their sugary sweet relationship could become a bit much sometimes.

Satomi sat at the table, munching away happily at some oatmeal she had probably forced Kuroo to make (not that she would have had to try very hard, the girl had everyone in the house wrapped around her little finger).

“Kuroo put water on for oatmeal, Kei!” Satomi grinned in between mouthfuls.

Tsukishima hummed, pouring water into a travel mug for a cup of tea on his way to work.

“Kenma told me that next time they play video games, I can play!” Satomi said excitedly.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes, out of her line of sight of course, at the thought of her sitting at the foot of the couch while the other two drowned each other in cuddles.

Those two would cuddle during the apocalypse and insist that it would somehow help.

“And Kuroo told me that he was gonna buy ice cream tonight! He’s gonna get me pistachio!” she cheered.

“Oh, really?” Tsukishima laughed hollowly, thinking of the conversation Kuroo and Bokuto must have had to spur this decision of his.

Satomi hummed in affirmation and scraped up the last of her breakfast. She hopped down from the chair and dropped her bowl in the sink, humming to herself, a tiny smile on her face.

“Can we go see Papa soon? I made a drawing for him in school, and I _really_ wanna show it to him. Please?” Satomi begged, craning her neck to look up at him.

Tsukishima winced at the thought. He really had wanted to avoid visiting again, especially with how badly things seemed to be doing. Last time, Satomi could only be in the room for five minutes before Tsukishima had to ask the nurse to take her out.

“Maybe this weekend. But you’ll have to behave really well, okay? Papa was fighting monsters all week, so he’s tired, and if you get too noisy, he won’t be able to keep protecting you,” Tsukishima said, kneeling down in front of her so she wouldn’t hurt her neck.

“I’ll be super duper good, I promise! I know Papa needs all his strength to beat those monsters,” Satomi proclaimed, nodding excitedly.

“Well, we’re going to have to leave soon, so how about you brush your hair? I’m sure Kuroo will braid it for you if you ask nicely,” Tsukishima smiled, brushing her hair out of her face.

With an excited gasp, she nodded and hurried out of the room. Tsukishima heard her talk to Kuroo, his deep voice matching her excitement when he replied.

So maybe he wasn’t the _worst_ person to share a house with, especially with how much Kuroo loved Satomi.

Tsukishima swore that one day he’d come home and Kuroo would have painted her room for her and bought her a whole new wardrobe, all covered in cats.

Tsukishima grabbed a protein bar and gobbled it down as his tea finished steeping. Tossing the wrapper away, he grabbed his tea and headed into the living room.

Sure enough, Satomi sat sideways in Kenma’s lap, facing the doorway while Kuroo sat behind the two of them, long fingers tucking her hair into a long blond braid, trailing almost to brush on Kenma’s thighs.

“Next time, can you do _two_ braids?” Satomi giggled, playing with one of Kenma’s hands as if it was a plane.

“Satomi, I could do _twenty_ braids if you wanted,” Kuroo grinned, winking at Kenma.

“No way!” Satomi gasped.

“Yes way. But for now we’ll stick to one. You look like a pretty princess like this,” Kuroo smiled, tying off the end, “Right, Kenma?”

“The prettiest, smartest, strongest princess around,” Kenma nodded, wiggling his fingers in front of her face.

Satomi giggled, hopping down and spinning around so that her braid swung around her. “Thank you, Kuroo!”

“You’re welcome, darling. Now, I think it’s time for you to head to school. Tsukki’s been glaring at me for a while now,” Kuroo smirked, looking back at the blond.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes, walking past the couch to stand next to Satomi. “Don’t you have to work today, Kenma?”

Kenma nodded. “I just have to shower first.”

“Don’t worry about us, Tsukki, we’ll be on time. It’s like five minutes away from here.”

“Yeah, but a certain someone kept Kenma here _late_ yesterday and I was the only one at work for the first two hours. During a book signing. With over fifty people waiting in line,” Tsukishima grumbled, helping Satomi pull her coat on.

“Sorry-”

“It’s not _your_ fault, Kenma. It’s your stupid boyfriend’s.”

“Hey, stupid isn’t a nice word, Tsukki,” Kuroo teased.

“Kei, you can’t say stupid!” Satomi gasped.

“No, stupid’s fine. _Asshole_ is the bad word,” Kuroo grinned.

“Kuroo!” Satomi giggled.

“Don’t say that word, okay? Or no ice cream,” Tsukishima said, glaring at Kuroo.

“Just don’t say it at _school_ , Satomi. And you’ll still get ice cream,” Kuroo smirked.

“We’re leaving,” Tsukishima grunted, grabbing his coat and leading Satomi outside. As he shut the door, he heard Kuroo erupt into deep laughter, and rolled his eyes.

“Kei, come _on_ , I gotta get to school,” Satomi said, taking his head and dragging him down the steps.

Tsukishima let her pull him down the sidewalk, holding tightly to her hand. He listened silently as she chattered aimlessly, covering topics from school to Kuroo and Kenma to the library and back.

“Satomi,” Tsukishima interrupted as they got to a street, waiting until they had crossed to speak again, “Afterschool today, I’ll pick you up and we’re going to stop by Yachi’s so that we can get flowers for Papa tomorrow.”

Satomi grinned. “I wanna pick out the prettiest flowers there! And I’m gonna tell Natsu all about my week, ‘cause I haven’t seen her in forever! I miss having her in my class.”

Tsukishima nodded understandingly, smiling down at her.

As they walked, Satomi bounced on her heels, humming with each step. It amazed Tsukishima how much she loved going to school, remembering how much he had despised waking up every morning and dragging himself through classes.

Of course, Satomi had a lot of friends and constantly was excitedly twittering about with one of them. Tsukishima knew that she hated leaving school more than almost anything else, and she usually made sure to say goodbye to every one of her classmates, even the ones that she never brought home on playdates.

And Satomi didn’t have to deal with a lot of the issues Tsukishima had. Satomi was a girl, and she was confident in that.

Tsukishima was a boy, and was only recently confident in that, especially after the incessant teasing he had been faced with as a transgender child in a tiny, almost violently traditional town.

No one in this town knew, as Tsukishima had specifically picked a place far away from home, but still close enough to visit Akiteru as often as he could allow Satomi to. And his roommates were exceptionally supportive, and had adamantly promised that they would never tell anyone.

But Tsukishima would protect Satomi from anything like that, aimed at him or her, and if she ever did face any of it, heads would roll.

“Kei, Kei, can I ride on your shoulders? Pretty please? This is the last time, I swear,” Satomi pleaded, pulling on his arm.

Sighing, Tsukishima nodded, knowing that this definitely wouldn’t be the last time, as she said that every morning. Satomi giggled as he picked her up gently and set her down on his shoulders. “Is that good?” he mumbled, handing her his tea so that he could hold onto her legs.

“Yup! Did you grow, Kei? I think we’re taller than yesterday!” Satomi asked, stretching her arms up.

Tsukishima chuckled, shaking his head slightly. “No, maybe you grew.”

Satomi gasped, nodding. “Maybe I did! Maybe I’ll grow and be as tall as you and Papa!”

As they turned down the street of Satomi’s school, Tsukishima noticed the other people walking their kids to school. Most of them came from Tsukishima’s side of the neighborhood, but he saw a few trickling in from the less fortunate areas.

When Tsukishima had moved here, he hadn’t even known that the city had a small pocket of shabby apartment buildings and tiny, rundown shops. All he had seen was the large homes and shiny new buildings in the bright, suburban area of the town.

At the front gate of the school, Tsukishima wrapped his hands around Satomi’s shoulders, carefully lowering her back to the ground.

Satomi handed him his tea and gave him a quick hug, pulling him down by his sweatshirt to wrap her arms around his neck. She pecked his cheek before twirling and skipping off onto the schoolgrounds, already finding a friend to converse with.

Tsukishima took a sip of his tea and turned on his heel, off to work. The library opened at nine on Fridays, but an hour of peace and quiet before he had to deal with people would be nice.

The library was in one of the best-off areas of the town, and was surrounded by three-story, white picket fence, bright green grass homes. Every home had a little white mailbox and a perfectly painted porch swing, all the exact same shade of bright, unmarked white.

It was more than unnerving, but Tsukishima knew that many people wanted to feel like the perfect, cookie-cutter mold of a family.

The library, in stark contrast, was a large, old building, wood darkened and dulled from years of wear and tear. Its slightly tinted windows stretched up from floor to ceiling, providing natural light to every corner of the library.

Tsukishima walked around to the back entrance, pulling out his key and shoving the old, heavy door open with a grunt. He locked it and flicked the lights on, illuminating the back storage room with soft yellow light from the stupid dim lightbulb that he always forgot to replace.

Stumbling around the boxes and bags of old, decrepit books, Tsukishima walked into the main lobby of the library, coughing out musty air and sighing.

Quiet mornings were his favorite mornings. The quiet hums and whirrings of the heaters were the only noises in the entire building, a chorus of soft music to replace the bustling, crowded symphony of chaos outside of the old oak doors.

Tsukishima grabbed a pile of returned books from the front desk, heading into the stacks to shelve them. He tiptoed around on the old carpet, silently sliding the books into place.

Out of all of the jobs in the world, being a librarian was probably Tsukishima’s best, and for the most part, his only choice. He had been able to be nearly anything he had wanted, encouraged by his parents, teachers, coaches, to be a doctor, a lawyer, a professional athlete. Counselors handed him stacks of brochures about this opportunity and that opening. Store owner, businessman, musician, accountant. The possibilities had been, theoretically, endless.

But no one wanted to graduate, let alone hire, a ‘shemale’ doctor. Store managers turned him away at seeing his birthname, Hotaru. His coach had told him that it wouldn’t matter, but the looks and comments that echoed off of his thickened skin in the locker room were another story.

Even simply being a garbage man had become impossible. The manager had cussed him out, yelling for him to leave, as they only hired ‘real’ men, because no one else was deemed fit to deal with people’s waste.

Tsukishima agreed with them on that. Only the so-called ‘real’, hypermasculine men who turned him and every other transgender person away deserved to be in a job of such squalor. Only those who would belittle and curse anyone unlike them in any way could be worthy of wading through trash.

But when the library’s sky high windows had been occupied by a tiny little ‘Help Wanted’ sign, Tsukishima had found his calling. He had applied that day, promising his life to this ancient, quiet building, and had been graciously accepted by the head librarian, a person so kind and sweet that Tsukishima doubted that they would have turned anyone away.

The silence helped with his sensitive hearing, allowing him to stay relaxed and at peace. The people who came in were very rarely rude, only there to grab a book or spend an hour on the computer. When he needed complete peace and quiet, he could work in the back room, shuffling through mangled, old books to find something worth saving.

Plus, the children’s section could keep Satomi occupied for the days when he had to bring her along, with a world of books and games and activities in the far back corner of the building. She’d grab a stack of books and curl up on one of the couches, reading to herself for hours on end.

Tsukishima continued reshelving books, taking stack after stack off of the front desk and into the forest of novels, content in this and only this.

After what only felt like minutes, he heard the back door open and close, and a quiet humming echo across the empty rooms.

Tsukishima set the last book in his arms on the display case, walking over to the front desk. He could hear someone rifling through papers below the desk, and leaned over slightly to look at them.

“Here it is!” they mumbled, standing straight up, causing Tsukishima to lean back quickly, surprised.

“Oh, morning, Tsukishima,” the light-haired person smiled.

“Morning, Suga,” Tsukishima nodded.

Suga set a stack of papers on the desktop, sorting through them. “So you already put away the returns? You must have been here pretty early.”

Tsukishima nodded, giving them a noncommittal noise of affirmation.

“So Kenma must’ve stayed over, then?” they smirked.

Tsukishima scoffed at them, “When _doesn’t_ Kenma stay over?”

Suga giggled, a light, airy noise that almost made Tsukishima smile just listening to the bright, happy sound. Then they sighed, looking up at the ceiling with a tired look in their eyes.

“Something wrong?” Tsukishima coughed, crossing his arms.

Suga’s eyes flicked down to look at him, brightening. “Worried, are you?” they laughed, “No, I’m just a little tired. Misaki was up for most of the night, and I didn’t want to keep making Daichi wake up. He has a busy day today, you know how he is. And what do I do all day? Sit here and doze off, that’s what. So it’s not like I need to be fully awake all of the time.”

Tsukishima frowned. “You still need sleep, Suga.”

Suga grinned. “Yeah, when she’s old enough to put herself back to sleep. And when Daichi’s not a complete worrywart when it comes to the baby. I swear he smothers her with so much love, she’s going to burst soon,” they laughed, turning to grab something from their bag, “Oh, I almost forgot, this is for you.”

They handed Tsukishima a bundle of saran wrap, which seemed to be some sort of muffin, although it was too extraordinarily lumpy and misshapen to be one.

“I knew that you probably skipped breakfast, and Daichi made these yesterday, and I can’t eat twenty four of these… things by myself, so eat up. They’re cranberry pineapple, and a lot better than they look,” Suga said, pulling out another for themself.

“What’s the occasion?” Tsukishima asked, peeling at the wrapping.

Suga chuckled, then sighed, “Daichi said that he wanted to help out more, because I’ve been doing a lot of the cooking while he’s been at work. But Daichi is an _awful_ baker, and I love him, but I mean seriously _terrible_. I intervened on this batch just so that they’d be eatable. He almost put _vinegar_ in the batter, set the oven for the highest setting for two minutes, and then almost forgot to take them out of the oven. I’m amazed the oven didn’t catch fire.”

Tsukishima snorted, walking around the desk to sit next to them, taking a small bite of the so-called muffin. It was drier than he would have expected, but it didn’t taste too bad. Vinegar definitely would have ruined it, though.

“Hmm, yeah, not disgusting, but I wouldn’t let him try anything much harder,” Tsukishima mumbled.

Suga beamed, eyes glowing with pride. “I’ll have to tell him the great Tsukishima likes them. Maybe he’ll make you a batch of your own.”

“I’ll stick to just this one, thank you.”

They sat in silence, eating their breakfasts and waiting for their coworkers to arrive.

“Hey, is Akaashi going to be here today?” Tsukishima asked.

Suga nodded, “As far as I know. But it _is_ Friday, and a little birdie told me that Bokuto stayed over with him, so he could be a little late.”

Tsukishima sighed. A grumpy, sleep-deprived Akaashi was the last thing he wanted to deal with on a Friday. Especially after being around Bokuto for an entire night. He’d be so irritable, he’d make Tsukishima seem pleasant.

But it wasn’t that he hated being around Bokuto, in fact, he seemed happier when he was around Bokuto, even if he acted more grumpy. It was when he finally was away from Bokuto after spending time together that he was notably grumpier.

Maybe he could spend the day in the nonfiction section, where no one ever wanted to go, and therefore where Akaashi wouldn’t have to deal with any people.

The back door clicked open and closed, and a sniffling Kenma came shuffling in, hands shoved in his pockets.

“Morning, Kenma,” Suga grinned, holding out a muffin for the younger man.

“What is that?” he coughed, taking it into his hand like it might suddenly jump at his face.

“Daichi made muffins,” Suga explained, “Are you okay? You sound sick.”

Kenma nodded, picking at the saran wrap. “Stupid Kuroo tried carrying me all the way here and tripped over a rock,” he sighed, “The idiot nearly cracked his head open, and crushed me in his arms like a pop can.”

Tsukishima snickered, ignoring Suga’s quick glare. Kenma crept around the counter, plopping down in the last seat and taking a nibble of the muffin, his face relaxing as he realized that it wasn’t as bad as it looked.

“Well, we don’t have any special plans for today, actually we don’t have anything special until Monday. So if one of you wants to go through the back room, the other can stay with me and work on entering the new shipment we got into the system. When Akaashi gets here, he can work on those, too,” Suga said, gesturing to the tower of boxes leaning against the wall.

“I’ll do back room today,” Kenma said quickly, hopping down from his chair.

Tsukishima grunted, feeling calm enough to handle a day of dealing with people. Kenma had had to deal with Kuroo all night, so he got the feeling that the other needed a few hours away from people. Kuroo loved his boyfriend and always treated him with complete respect, but dealing with Kuroo was like taking care of a puppy. He was always bustling with energy, and he tended with be a bit much for someone like Kenma after too long.

Kenma walked away, picking at the muffin, and Suga hummed to themself, “Guess someone was up all night, then?”

“You should see the living room. It’s almost as bad as Bokuto’s room,” Tsukishima grumbled.

With a short laugh, Suga got up and walked to the stack of boxes. They brought the first one over, dropping it onto the counter with a thud.

“Well, might as well get to it, then,” Suga sighed, a small smile on their face.

The back door opened and closed again, and Akaashi came trotting in, eyes glazed over with exhaustion, but not as irritated as Tsukishima expected.

“Morning, Akaashi,” Suga said gently, holding out another muffin (Tsukishima was amazed at how many he had stuffed into his bag).

Akaashi took it without a word, unwrapping it and biting into it. “Morning.”

“We were just about to start cataloging the new books,” Suga explained, opening the box.

Akaashi nodded, sitting in Kenma’s vacant seat. “Anything good?”

“There are a bunch of new books, a few should be to your liking, although I know you’ve probably read most of them already,” Suga grinned.

Akaashi let out a short laugh, and Tsukishima raised an eyebrow at his surprisingly good mood. “Probably, but it never hurts to reread sometimes.”

Suga’s eyes flicked from Tsukishima to Akaashi, his smile growing. “Alright, then. Tsukishima, can you please get out of the barcode stickers and the spine labels?”

Tsukishima nodded, and Suga and Akaashi settled around the computer, clicking away to get to the library database. Their job was the hardest, trying to find the right book with the right author, so it would be put away in the right section, and making sure that everything was submitted correctly, or else the book would get lost in the sea of other novels.

Tsukishima had the boring job, slapping the labels onto the side and front, stamping them with the library’s stamp of ownership, and taping in a due date sheet. It was plain, menial labor, but it didn’t require tedious searches through millions of books, so it, unfortunately, the better task.

Tsukishima stuck a barcode on each book, passing it to Akaashi to scan it into the system, who then handed it back to him to quickly stick everything in the right spot in time to get the next book in order, all while Suga quickly catalogued each book.

They fell into a rhythm quickly, the sounds of books being opened, passed, and set down like the tempo of a song, only interrupted when a patron came in, where they would greet them quickly before resuming their work.

Working through the first box, an hour passed, and, not surprisingly, as it was still early in the morning, only saw a few other patrons, all looking rather tired.

Kenma reappeared as they finished the second box, taking the new books onto a cart and walking off to shelve them, not saying a word.

Tsukishima’s hands ached from doing the same menial task for two hours, but ignored it and didn’t bother to complain, not wanting to ruin the pleasant, serene atmosphere.

As they tossed the third box into the corner and hefted the last box onto the counter, Suga stretched out their arms and hummed, “Let’s take a short break. My back’s getting sore from hunching over that old computer.”

Akaashi and Tsukishima agreed, the former slouching over the counter while the latter flexed his hands, pulling and cracking each knuckle.

“I’m going to go next door and grab something to eat. Do either of you want anything?” Tsukishima sighed, grabbing his jacket.

“Could you grab a small coffee for me?” Suga asked, pulling out their wallet.

“Don’t bother, Suga. Consider it payment for the muffin,” Tsukishima smirked.

“Aw, come on, I’d say that was worth a lot more than a small coffee,” Suga joked.

“Akaashi?”

Akaashi shook his head, waving him off. “No, thank you.”

“Take Kenma with you, though. He didn’t bring a lunch with him, and he always forgets to eat otherwise,” Suga chided.

Tsukishima nodded, wondering where he had to go to find Kenma. With a wave, he left the front desk, weaving through the bookshelves to find the smaller man.

He found Kenma in the children’s section, talking to woman with a small child about where the picture books were located.

As the woman walked away with a ‘thank you’, Tsukishima stopped next to Kenma.

“I’m stopping next door for lunch. You should come and grab something to eat, too.”

Kenma raised his eyebrows and asked, “Suga told you to?”

“Yeah, but you need food either way.”

Kenma nodded, sighing and shoving his hands in his pockets. “Alright. Let’s go.”

The two of them headed through the back room, walking around to the front of the building. Tsukishima yawned as they walked the short distance to the coffee shop, both silent but not unpleasantly so.

Tsukishima opened the door for Kenma, and they were immediately greeted with a loud yell.

“Kenma! Tsukki! You two just couldn’t stay away, could you?” Kuroo shouted, ignoring the people in the café who were clearly trying to work.

“Kuroo, you shouldn’t be so loud,” Kenma hushed as they got to the counter.

“Aw, come on, I’m excited to see you,” he pouted, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to Kenma’s forehead.

Kenma’s cheeks flushed, but he slid money onto the counter and mumbled, “Can I have an apple tart and a tea?”

Kuroo nodded, hurrying off to make his order as Bokuto ran to the front, a bright smile on his face.

“Morning, Tsukki! What would you like today?” he beamed, looking especially happy this morning.

“A small black coffee, a small green tea, and a grilled cheese,” Tsukishima said plainly, handing Bokuto his money.

Bokuto punched his order into the computer, took his money with a hum, and gave him his change before pouting. “Tsukki, Kuroo told me that you didn’t even tell him about my ice cream.”

“That’s because it was three in the _morning_ and some of us aren’t up all night because we need our sleep,” Tsukishima sighed.

“Well, it’s cool. I got more this morning and dropped it off at the house. I got Satomi some pistachio, too, since that’s her favorite!” Bokuto grinned.

Tsukishima snorted, thinking about how happy Satomi would be to be greeted by ice cream when she got home.

Bokuto skipped off to fill his order, humming to himself. It was probably a bad rendition of some trashy pop song, knowing him.

Inuoka came out of the back room and smiled as he saw Tsukishima and Kenma, hopping over to talk to them.

“Hey, Kenma. How are you today?” he asked, smiling brightly as usual.

Kenma shrugged. “Alright. How are you?”

“I am awesome, I mean it’s Friday, and I don’t have any classes later today, and this morning, I woke up to a text from Yuuki! He said he’s going to be able to visit this weekend! I haven’t seen him in almost a month, so I’m so excited- oh, sorry, Kuroo, I’m in your way, huh?” Inuoka rambled, scooting out of the way as the taller man approached the counter with Kenma’s order.

“Here you go, Kenma,” Kuroo smiled, “The tart is fresh from the oven, just for you.”

Kenma smiled, looking down at his cup, where a big heart was drawn with some cheesy message scrawled inside of it.

“You spelled amazing wrong, dork,” Kenma smirked.

Kuroo gasped, and leaned over to look at it when Kenma giggled to himself.

“Just kidding,” he whispered, leaning over the counter to press a kiss to Kuroo’s cheek.

Kuroo’s face lit up, a wide smile growing across his lips.

Bokuto handed Tsukishima his order, overlooking the exchange to his right in favor of making his brand of strange faces at the blond. Tsukishima thanked him curtly, ignoring the goofy grin the other gave him.

Kenma ducked out of Kuroo’s reach, smiling to himself, and turned around, walking out of the café. “Bye, Kuroo.”

Kuroo pouted, but the frown quickly slipped into a smile again. “I got a kiss!” he chanted, throwing his hands into the air.

“You act like he’s never kissed you,” Tsukishima sighed.

Kuroo winked at Tsukishima. “Don’t be mean just because Kenma’s never kissed you, Tsukki.”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes, spinning around to walk out, waving goodbye to Inuoka, the only one who wasn’t being a complete goof while they were working.

The last thing he heard as he left was Kuroo singing some romantic song like a lovesick fool, and he shook his head, snorting as he caught up with Kenma.

Kenma still had a small grin on his face, and looked at Tsukishima for a moment before quickly looking back down at the ground.

“You have him wrapped around your finger, you know?” Tsukishima laughed.

Kenma bit his lip. “Maybe.”

Tsukishima snickered, amused by how oblivious Kenma seemed to how enamored the big galoot was with him. He could ask for the world, and Kuroo would get himself killed trying to do just that.

As they walked back into the library, Tsukishima noticed that there were a few more people looking around the library, and hoped that none of them would cause any problems.

Suga thanked him as he handed them their coffee, and Akaashi asked how Bokuto looked.

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow. “He was as annoyingly bubbly as usual, if that’s what you mean.”

Akaashi nodded. “Just wondering. This morning he kept acting like he was trying to hide something. He’s awful at keeping secrets, you know. He gets really tense, and sometimes he just squawks like some sort of bird. It’s funny to watch, but gets old really quickly.”

“He probably was just so excited to be around you, Akaashi. He adores you,” Suga smiled, winking.

Akaashi smiled to himself, mirroring the expression that still hung over Kenma’s face.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes. He was surrounded by gooey, mushy, absolutely and completely starry-eyed, lovesick fools.

Suga elbowed his gut sharply, surprisingly sharp for such a kind person, and scoffed. “Just wait, Tsukki, one day, you’ll find someone who can tolerate you enough to fall in love with you and you’ll be an absolute mess around them.”

Tsukishima snorted. He may want to eventually find someone, but he doubted he’d ever be _this_ in love. He just wasn’t a lovey-dovey type of person, he never had been, and he never would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We all know that Tsukki's gonna be head over heels soon, though, let's be real here, he's going to be the dorkiest, mushy-gushiest freckled-angel-loving nerd ever.
> 
> This is turning into a librarian-doctor-coffeeshop hybrid AU just because I love all of these characters.
> 
> Also if you couldn't tell I absolutely love libraries and I know all of the cataloging stuff from working and volunteering in several libraries (you don't know how much I love working in a library like the librarian life is the only life for me).
> 
> They didn't meet in this chapter, and it could be another chapter or two, but it's going to be so good, I promise. I just kept writing and writing and writing and this chapter doubled in size by the time I was done editing.


End file.
